What Did I Just Watch: Paranormal Activity on Broadway
Before I begin this review, I admittedly do not have any memory of watching any of the Paranormal Activity franchise. Perhaps I have, but at some point. But with horror movies, they tend to all blend into one. A little kid with absent parents. A telephone ringing with no wire. A ghost possessing the elevator. You get the picture. Though I love the horror genre, Paranormal Activity was not a franchise that jumped out to me. However, when I heard they were making a Broadway version of Paranormal, I was intrigued.[1]
When I think of Broadway, rarely does the horror genre pop into mind. The closest I can think of is Carrie’s run on Broadway, but that is still first and foremost a musical. The same goes for Sweeney Todd. The musical genre does not lend itself well to being scary. It is normally too camp for that. But this production promised something different: an original play set in the Paranormal universe that was horror first and Broadway show second. Now that sounds like a good time!
When I arrived at the August Wilson Theatre, I did not know what to expect. Guests are greeted by a black curtain with the projected title “Paranormal Activity” in bright red. Every once in a while, the letters would flicker to give that haunted feel. When the curtains were finally drawn up, the stage was set up to look like a simple house that the audience peered into like a Barbie dollhouse. A ground floor with the kitchen, front door, and living room. Upstairs, a bathroom, a bedroom, and a mysterious door.
The show starts with a podcast about the paranormal with a soothing British narrator talking through an Alexa in the kitchen. Shortly after, we meet the main characters of our show. The play follows the lives of two seemingly simple characters: James and his wife Lou, who recently moved to London from Chicago due to her “depression.” We also meet James’s mother via FaceTime, who is intrusive and overprotective of her son. And that seems to be it . . . until the days keep moving. Scenes start with their mundane lives trying to adjust to a new country and navigate Lou’s growing “illness” that quickly is revealed to be a haunting (or so it seems). The play is made up of scenes of the couple slowly becoming madder and more frazzled as the haunting does not seem to let up. Mysterious sounds are heard, blankets start moving, and the house seems to always have an electricity problem. They call on the help of a paranormal expert, to no avail. And they seem stuck in a cycle of waiting for the next possession to occur.
Without getting into spoilers, the show does an excellent job of making the characters seem real and the haunting even realer. The design of the house felt both eerie and realistic. When the “power” would go out during some scenes, we would be stuck with the characters in candlelight and a dark theatre filling with fog. Nothing gets you immersed quite like that. The loud noises and the random jump scares really do get you on the edge of your seat. Being in a full theatre, there were quite a few moments where you could hear the entire audience collectively gasp or scream. In one special effects instance I am still trying to wrap my brain around, I heard the lady behind me scream, “NO WAY!” Meanwhile, I was in utter shock at the reveal; I thought I was watching a movie where cuts and edits existed. That is how good the practical effects are.
As for the story, the plot stays simple in a refreshing way. Rather than complicating the haunting or the “exorcism,” as it were, the story is simple, yet layers of the plot get revealed slowly enough to feel fresh. We slowly learn more about Lou’s past and why she thinks she is haunted. We also learn more about James and his equally troubled past. The ultimate reveal SPOILER ALERT is that the ghost was haunting James all along. An ending that felt surprising yet not out of left field. Overall, the show definitely felt more about the journey than the destination. The plot was nothing to ogle over, but it was the design team that really made the show something special. Whether it was the lighting, set design, or effects team, the show is definitely worth it if you like to see live theater stretched to its limits.
Author: Kelly Wu ’27
[1] As a former theatre kid, any excuse for a trip to Broadway is one I will take.
